When Worlds Collide
by D.E. Lewis
Summary: Kato has a darker past than Britt even realized. What happens when his old life and his new life meet? What secrets will be uprooted and when will it end? Rated T for mature but not overtly obvious scenes. Will post 1 chapter per day.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Okay, no I don't allow unsigned reviews. I like to know who's reviewing my work.

Also, this story is more of a Kato/OC story if you squint. Slash if you're delusional and ergo not reading the actual words.

When Worlds Collide

"_When my love swears that she is made of truth__  
__I do believe her though I know she lies,__  
__That she might think me some untutored youth__  
__Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.__  
__Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,__  
__Although she knows my days are past the best,__  
__Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue;"- Shakespeare, Sonnet 138, lines 1-7_

Kato was walking home.

Now, under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have been a big deal. Except there was one small problem: Kato owned a motorcycle.

Dear Reader, I say owned in the past tense. Kato had, at one point, owned a rather stylish black motorcycle, but now it was gone. Despite its shiny, new appearance, it was a lesson in how appearances could be deceiving. It was, in reality, a very old bike he'd rescued from a junkyard and rehabilitated. Unfortunately, you can only rehabilitate an old bike so far, and now he was saving up to repair the engine again.

Yes, that bike was definitely a lesson in appearances and how they didn't always match expectations. It fit Kato perfectly, because his appearance didn't always match expectations either.

To look at Kato, you'd think he was a simple, Chinese man with nothing more to do than slack off and draw. Until you saw what he could do. Usually to you. You'd never think that under that slowly moving body lurked a sharp mind with a hair trigger sense of when to strike.

That sense was pricking at him at the exact moment we started looking in on him, Dear Reader.

He could hear the sound of a struggle. He turned the corner to see a gang beating up on a young man who could be only 16 years old at the most. This was unacceptable. Kato's lightning quick mind quickly analyzed the situation. Four gangsters, one victim, only two real weapons between them.

So he moved.

After kicking the gun out of the way, dodging the knife and steel pipe, and using the last gangster as a weapon towards the other two, they ran off. Kato stuck his hand out toward the victim, who took it gratefully.

Unfortunately for Kato, he hadn't taken the thick bushes into account, and a man who he'd never noticed jumped up behind him and wrapped a thick piece of rope around his neck, pulling tightly. Kato clawed at the rope, his air supply quickly dissipating with the struggle. What was going on? This didn't make any sense at all!

Then the victim looked at him with the strangest smile Kato had ever seen. He raised a damp cloth to Kato's mouth and nose. The four gangsters he'd "chased off" started to slowly walk back into his field of vision. Grey-black swirls started to edge around his vision. They'd tricked him.

Yes, appearances could truly be deceiving.

* * *

Britt Reid yawned as he sifted through his mail. Bill, junk, advertisement, coupons, and – ooohhh! A small box!

Getting a box in the mail is always fun, right?

Britt tore it open, silly smile on his face as he did so. It was a small jewel CD case with a burned disc inside of it. He looked at the Sharpie marker scrawled across the DVD.

"Catch me if you can, Britt Reid!"

Britt frowned. He didn't recall ordering anything like this, and it unnerved him a little. He popped the disc into the DVD player. The menu came up with a movie title reading "A little surprise for you." Alarm bells went off in Britt's head.

He clicked play.

Then he wanted to be sick. On the screen was an image he'd never thought he'd have to see. Kato – his best friend and brother in bond – was lying on the floor. At least, he assumed it was Kato. The man's eyes were bruised and swollen nearly shut, and he had a purple blotch covering most of the left half of his face. He was gagged, and the red stain on the cloth certainly looked like it could be blood.

The ropes were even more frightening. Kato's arms were behind his back, and there were ropes around his chest and abdomen, above and below his knees, and around his ankles. His black t-shirt was starting to ride up, and Britt could see rubbed raw skin around his stomach, just under the edge of a purple bruise.

A distorted voice boomed out over the speakers.

"Britt Reid. I know you're watching, and now I know you're worried. I have your little friend here. I want two million dollars, a means of escape, and an article in the Sentinel about me. Don't call the police. Don't expect anyone to help you. If you call anyone, we'll hurt him more than he hurts now, and I can assure you. He hurts more than he's ever hurt in his life. I want my money by tonight, and the article by tomorrow's paper. Front page, above the fold if you can," the voice said.

"And just so you don't think I'm bluffing," The voice continued, a pair of feet started walking toward Kato on camera. Kato looked above him angrily at the boots. When the feet were behind him, they kicked him in the back, hard enough to flip Kato over onto his stomach. Britt could see Kato's bound hands under the rope around his waist. Kato had obviously struggled. His wrists were a bloody mess.

The movie ended, and Britt turned off the television. _Don't call the cops my ass._ He thought. He picked up the phone and called Lenore.

"Hello, Lenore speaking?" She asked from the other end of the phone.

"Lenore, it's Britt."

"Britt, it's Saturday. I'm not coming into work or coming to help you on another stunt."

"Kato's been kidnapped."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the line. "Please tell me this is a joke, Britt," she said after a long pause.

"I don't think so. They sent me a DVD and it's pretty frightening. He's in bad shape already," Britt said, trying to not think about the bruises, the swollen eyes, or the bloody wrists of his best friend. "What do we do? They said not to call the cops. Why did they do this?"

"I don't know yet. Did they mention the Green Hornet?"

"Not that I heard."

"Good. At least that gives us a starting point. I'm calling a friend from college. She's in the FBI. Maybe she can help us out."

"The guy said no cops. He kicked Kato to make his point," Britt said, suddenly afraid of what he'd see next if the cops were called.

"Well, it's either that, or we never catch this guy and he does it again."

Britt sighed. "Call her."

* * *

**I do love reviews, and the chapters will get longer. This is just the best place to stop this one. **


	2. Chapter 2

Profiling on the Fly

Lenore arrived within minutes with a young woman by her side. She was Lenore's polar opposite.

She had shoulder length, dark brown hair, left in its naturally curly state, dark eyes and tan skin. Where Lenore was tall and lean, this woman was short and muscular with a slightly stocky look about her. Lenore was wearing a breezy top over skinny jeans and flats. The woman was wearing a blue plaid shirt over a white tank top with oversized jeans and sneakers.

"Magda Clawson, at your service, but you can call me Maggie," she said, holding her hand out. She spoke with a heavy southern accent. Slow and gentile, but with a bit of an edge to it. "May I see the video?"

As they walked over to the television, Britt furrowed his brow. "What do you do, exactly? In the FBI, I mean," he asked.

"I'm a profiler. Used to work the Louisiana offices, but after Katrina I was sent out here to assemble the Los Angeles section of VICAP. I'm the best of the best when it comes down to figuring out a profile on the fly," she said, her Southern drawl making her seem less than worried. "I have degrees in engineering and psychology, so I think I can help."

Britt switched on the movie, and turned away. He didn't want to see again. He couldn't. Maggie sat and watched, fascinated.

"Lenore already told me what y'all do for fun. The Green Hornet, huh? Fits your profile perfectly," she said. Britt glared at Lenore. "Don't worry. It's not like I'll be telling anyone. Discretion is something I do very well," Maggie said in an attempt to reassure the hero. "When did you last see Kato?"

"Thursday night. He was going home. His bike stopped working suddenly and he had to walk. It was weird because he kept that thing in perfect shape," Britt replied.

"Why not Friday? Didn't you worry about him when he didn't show up for work?" Maggie asked, almost like a television interrogator.

"I told him to stay home and sleep. He'd been burning the candle at both ends and I figured he could use a rest," Britt shook his head. Had he known what would happen out of his sight…

"I think he was kidnapped Thursday night. Those bruises are well established, so he had to be taken somewhere by surprise," Maggie played the movie again. The distorted voice came back. Britt tried to shut out his ears. It was too difficult. Maggie suddenly paused.

"Listen to that. They'll 'hurt him more?' That's not typical kidnapper speak. It's usually a threat of death. That's significant. And the way he doesn't want you to go out of your way for the position of the article. This is probably a young man who grew up with strict parents. Probably in a position of old money. Raised with a lot of manners, and hated it, so he's run away, but discovered that he wants things that are higher than his means. That's why the money. He's a sociopath. He understands that he's hurting another person, but he simply doesn't care.

"Take a look at the bonds. That's not something you see in crime dramas or mystery novels. That's a bondage technique. The rope around his waist is also looped around his wrists. This keeps him from moving, struggling, and keeping his balance to scoot around for escape. It's also highly uncomfortable. He likes rope, and he's definitely tied someone up before.

"Then, the use of 'we'll.' Look at that. There was probably a group involved at the start, but as the talker, he's likely the head of it. The leader. Or he wants to be. This needs more investigation.

"Then the lack of information about contacting you. Either he's bluffing about returning Kato, or he's inexperienced. Or both. Either way, he's unfamiliar with crime, but he's got some level of sexual deviancy with that kind of knowledge of bondage techniques. He's got experience there. He's young, so also impulsive, and he's in desperate need of money.

"This is bad. If I didn't know better, I'd say he wasn't planning on returning Kato alive, or returning him at all," Maggie finished.

Britt stared at her, horrified. What was happening to his friend? What had they gotten into?

"What do you think he'll do next? What should _we_ do next?" Lenore asked.

"Wait. He'll figure out eventually that he never added the contact info. Then he'll send us another video, or figure out how to call us," Maggie replied seriously.

* * *

Kato peeked around. The swelling around his eyes had decreased enough so that he could see again. He was alone in a dimly lit, concrete, windowless, dirty room. He tugged around his wrists for a minute, stifling a hiss of pain when the rope dug into the wounds he'd already given himself. Then he felt it. It was a small bump of rope.

Kato started working at the knot on the rope around his wrists. His hands cramped up, so he stretched his fingers and tried again. After what felt like forever, he felt something loosen. Then his wrists were free from everything but the rope looped around his waist as well. He squirmed and struggled for a minute and his hands were free.

A short struggle later, he was free from the ropes around his waist and upper body. He pulled the gag away and spat out the wad of cloth in his mouth. His mouth was amazingly dry. He wasn't sure how long he'd been down here, but it had been awhile, and he didn't have any water.

He had to work fast. He tugged at the knots on the ropes around his legs and ankles. Either this guy wasn't trying, or he was really bad at tying knots. Now freed, he carefully got to his feet.

A wave of dizziness washed over him.

Slowly, slowly he crawled to the wall. Bracing himself on it, he pulled himself up. The room swam before him. He rubbed his eyes and made his way completely to his feet. A quick gaze around the room showed a door on one side. Metal door, but simple doorknob. So he couldn't punch it in. However, no need to draw attention to himself if he didn't have to.

Kato reached for the doorknob to slowly open the door.

The next thing he was aware of, he felt intense pain shooting through his arm and then the sensation of flying. His head hit the ground, and he knew no more.

* * *

The small box that arrived the next morning was not a welcome sight. The previous box had been hand delivered, and the deliverer hadn't left any fingerprints so there was no way to trace it. Britt Reid placed it on the table in front of Maggie. Lenore had left the night before and wasn't back yet.

"Let's just get this over with, okay?" Britt was tired, having spent a sleepless night alternately worrying, and having nightmares of dead friends with bloody wrists.

Maggie pulled on a pair of latex gloves before using a knife to slice open the top of the box. She tapped the DVD out onto the table. The Sharpie on the disc read "Sorry." Maggie frowned.

As soon as they pressed play on the disc in the player, they knew something was wrong.

Kato was tied up differently. The locations were the same, but it was duct tape now instead of rope, with what looked like several strips across his mouth. The swelling around his eyes had gone, but he was still bruised and battered. Now he looked groggy and sick as well. The captor was wearing a ski mask with no mouth hole and black clothing, and was crouched behind Kato. He stroked Kato's hair in a sick perversion of what a loving mother would do. Kato tried to inch his head away, but the captor grabbed a fistful of hair and wrenched his head around to face the camera.

"As you can see," the distorted voice began, "I've had to punish Kato. He escaped his bonds last night and got himself hurt. He'll have a much harder time escaping from these, and I taught him a lesson on escaping anyway. We won't get into that now." The captor flipped Kato onto his stomach. His right hand was a deep, burnt red color.

"I realize I never gave you contact information for my other demands, but I never saw my article in the paper this morning. This is unacceptable. And so, there will be punishment." The captor gripped one of the fingers of Kato's left hand and broke it. Kato made the smallest of noises, almost as if he were trying to stifle a scream.

Another finger was broken. The noise got louder. When the third finger snapped, Kato let out a moan of pain. The index finger felt a snap and Kato screamed as loud as he could behind the gag.

"Now do you see what I'm capable of? Be at the Los Angeles airstrip at seven 'o' clock sharp tonight with my money and a jet. Get my article in the paper by then. I want to see the copy. Unless you like seeing this. Then I suggest you keep doing what you're doing."

The video went black, and Britt dashed off to the bathroom to be violently ill.

* * *

Kato managed to roll himself back onto his side. After he'd woken up from whatever had knocked him out, he realized he was tied up again, on his back, but this time without anything around his waist. Could he use this to his advantage? It was a distinct possibility.

His captor loomed over him brandishing, of all things, a soup spoon. He set a small, portable gas stove on the floor next to him and straddled Kato's hips, effectively pinning him down. He yanked Kato's shirt up, exposing his stomach, and turned on the gas stove.

Kato watched in horror as he realized what his captor was doing. He was heating the spoon in the stove. He struggled, violently, but to no avail. Bound as he was, with no leverage, there wasn't much he could do.

Then the hot spoon touched his stomach just briefly.

Kato tried hard not to scream. He couldn't give this madman the satisfaction of hearing his captive in pain. The spoon touched him again and again, until Kato couldn't stand it anymore. He hadn't truly been allowed to sleep, he was tired, aching, his head hurt, he was hungry, thirsty, and wanted to go home.

Kato screamed.

"Very good," his captor said. "If you could scream sooner I wouldn't have to do this to you." Then he pulled Kato's shirt back down and wound tape around his waist and arms, being sure it pressed tightly against the still stinging burns.

Then he patted Kato on the side of the face, got up, and left.

* * *

"That hand – his right hand is burned. But that's an even burn. If it was a true heat burn, he'd have inconsistencies in the coloring and texture. But it's even. I'll bet he gripped a metal doorknob when he was escaping. And if our bad-guy is what I think he is, he electrified the door," Maggie began.

"So it's an electrical burn? Why?"

"This is definitely a sadist," Maggie said. "Look at how he uses your inaction to justify injuring his captive. He wants an excuse – any excuse – to do this. He probably feels bad about what he's doing, but he gets sexual gratification from doing so, so he doesn't want to stop."

"Wait, you mean this is his way of-of _raping_ him? This is about _sex?_"Britt sputtered.

"Not directly, no. If this was about sex, he'd have taken a random victim and wouldn't be taunting you. He'd just continue using his victim for sex, and then taunt _me_ as the investigator. I think this may go far deeper than what we currently have. I suspect he kidnapped Kato on contract – it likely had nothing to do with you. He's anonymous enough that a bigger fish could have seen him as the perfect fall guy should things get a little pear shaped. It's just that he saw an opportunity and took it. Now he gets money from the person he's gotten Kato for, _and_ from you.

"We need to go ahead and get what he wants. I think I know how to go about this."

* * *

**What's happening to Kato? Reviews are appreciated! **


	3. Chapter 3

Rescued, But Still in Danger

The airstrip was a riotous cacophony of noise. Planes were taking off, as were helicopters and other smaller jets. Kato shifted. He was locked in the trunk, unable to protect himself from the erratic turns the driver made. The car suddenly came to a stop. It sat there for a few minutes.

The trunk popped open, blinding him with light from outside.

"Let's go," his captor said, before forcing the large bag around his body and over his head. Kato struggled, and got a fist to the already abused stomach as a reward.

He felt himself being lifted into the air, and thrown over something hard and clearly weaker than he'd previously realized. The shoulder was sagging and shaking under his weight. Then there was the sensation of stairs. Soon, he was dumped into what had to be a chair. It was soft and cushy, but the ropes being tied around him were not.

He could hear shouting from outside. "Hey! I gave you the money! Aren't you going to let him go? You've got what you wanted!" Britt? Was that him? Kato jerked in his seat, trying to loosen the tight ropes and tighter duct tape.

The female voice caught him off guard.

"Did y'all really think he wouldn't call the cops? Now, if you'd ever so kindly put your hands on your head, I can arrest you and we can all be on our merry way," the accented voice said slowly.

His captor started swearing and moving around. The voice continued, "Now there is no reason at all for being like that. Young man, please do not make me ask you again. Put your _hands_ on your _head._ Now." The voice was far more sharp and commanding – almost as if she were talking to a disobedient child. "Oh for heaven's sake. Why do criminals always want to make things more difficult than they are?" There was shaking and a bump. "Britt, come on in here and get your friend loose!" she called out the door. More shaking, more footsteps.

"Kato! Oh my god are you okay?" Hands were pulling at the ropes and the bag. Kato wanted to make a sound. Something. His mouth was too dry and he was too tired.

Soon, the bag was pulled away from his head and he stared into the worried visage before him. Britt carefully pulled the tape from his mouth. Kato spat out the wad of cloth that had been gagging him since he'd been taken that night. He sagged. He was tired.

"Hey, hey. Don't sleep on me yet. There's an ambulance waiting. You've gotta get checked out. Stay awake," Britt said while he sawed at the tape around Kato's body with a knife. After his legs were freed, Kato leaned forwards so Britt could get at the tape around his wrists.

The torn skin was pulling away as Britt tried to remove the tape as carefully as possible, but it was still incredibly painful. Kato hissed in pain in a desperate attempt to hold in a whimper. Everything felt like pins and needles and he was tired and dizzy.

He offered no resistance as Britt pulled his arm over a shoulder and helped him to his feet. Britt supported him as gently as possible, but Kato hurt everywhere. There was nowhere anyone could touch that didn't hurt. Kato leaned against his friend and allowed himself to be led out of the airplane, and over to a stretcher. Lenore was inside. He vaguely heard Britt saying something about how he'd catch up in the emergency room. An oxygen mask was clamped over his mouth and nose.

Kato tried to stay awake, but Lenore was gently brushing his hair back from his face. His eyes closed and let him drift away to dreamland.

* * *

Britt sighed. Kato was still asleep.

Between the myriad bruises, tubes, bandages and IV lines, Kato was almost unrecognizable. Britt sighed and switched on the television. He flipped through the channels until he saw the news. He left that on with the volume low.

"Hey, how's he doing?" Lenore asked as she walked into the room.

"Still sleeping. He looked like he needed it when we brought him in. Oh, and the doctor says his hand will heal completely. Clean breaks all around," Britt informed her.

"Maggie says the kid – yeah, kid. He's only 17 – won't give anything up, but he's definitely connected with something. Her profile was perfect: Little rich Jeremy Longhurst ran away, but wanted to eat stuff other than instant noodles. He got some kind of wire into a bank account of more than a hundred grand…"

"So this might not be over," Britt finished. "Who paid him to do this? Why? I can't believe that someone wants to ransom him for any more than what they already paid the kid."

"That's where it gets a little… creepy," Lenore started, cautiously. "Britt, I wouldn't be surprised if the mastermind behind this was paying the kid to get him a slave," she finished in hushed tones.

"Wait, what? You mean someone wants to buy Kato like an object? He's a human being, for pete's sake!" Britt whispered angrily.

"Britt, it's the only thing that makes sense. Why else would the kid have taken him _and_ have that kind of money wired to him? Maggie just assigned guards to Kato's room. She's interrogating the little kidnapper right now, but she'll be down as soon as Kato wakes up. She needs to ask him some questions," Lenore tried to get a grip on her emotions as she spoke.

And then there was a groan.

Kato rolled his head from side to side and raised his scorched right hand to rub at his eyes. Britt and Lenore were at his side in an instant.

"Hey, buddy. How're ya doing?" Britt asked, grinning. Kato grunted and turned his head away from the offending sound. He muttered something in Chinese.

"Kato, we can't understand you. Do you need something?" Lenore asked gently, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

"Mmm, head. Hurts," He mumbled, sleep slurring his words. He just wanted the chatter in the room to go away. He was relieved when the sound of the television clicked away.

"Hey, you can't sleep yet. Maggie's gonna be here soon to ask you some questions. Do you want anything?" Britt asked, concerned for the state of his friend.

"Thirsty. Water?" Kato murmured in reply, eyes half shut. "Is Maggie the woman from the airplane?" He asked, slightly confused. She'd looked familiar somehow.

"Yeah, that's her. She's FBI. She helped us get you back," Britt replied. He held up a cup with a straw to Kato's lips. Kato drank half the cup before falling back into the pillows.

The door opened and a nurse came in to check his IVs and monitors.

"Are you hungry, dear?" She asked. Kato's brow furrowed. Not really. He was actually somewhat nauseous. He shook his head.

"No. No thank you," he said quietly.

"Kato, you've got to eat something," Lenore said. "You haven't eaten since Thursday, and it's Tuesday now. Maybe some jello?" She finished. Jello sounded good. He nodded a little.

"Okay," He said, then leaned back.

"I'll go get you some," the nurse said and left the room.

A moment later, Maggie stepped into the room. She was wearing slim fitting cargo pants and a button down blouse over a pair of hiking shoes. She stuck out her hand to Kato and introduced herself.

In Chinese.

"You speak Chinese!" Kato exclaimed in his native language.

"Yes, I do," she replied. "I assumed it would be easier for you to talk about what happened if you didn't have to think about your English as well. That and it gives me a chance to practice," she said with a smile.

Kato allowed himself the tiniest ghost of a smile. She looked familiar. He couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen her before, but he had. Unruly curls framing a heart shaped face, someone crying, someone else screaming… that didn't make sense. Screaming?

"Kato, have you gotten any threats lately?" Maggie asked, yanking Kato out of his memories.

"Um, no. Not that I can remember. Not lately," he wracked his brain trying to remember another threat besides the one the head mechanic had made when he left to work for Britt's father.

"_I'll make sure you go back to China where you belong, you yellow bastard!" _

_Kato tried to hide his shaking behind a mask of indifference. He was only 17, scared, and alone in a strange country where he hardly spoke the language. He couldn't go back! There was nothing there for him! Did James Reid even know what he was taking in? A castoff? A worthless scrap from the streets? _

"_Are you listening? I brought you here, so I can send you back!" Kato kept walking out of the garage, until the socket wrench exploded into the wall in front of him. Then he ran so he wouldn't get hit with flying tools. _

_He wasn't proud of that. _

"Are you sure? Tell me about that night. What happened?" Maggie's gentile, slightly halting Chinese brought him back to the present.

"What? What did you say?" He couldn't remember the question.

"Where did you go, just now? Where were you in your head?" Maggie looked concerned.

"Just remembering something," Kato replied softly. He started to recount the story of how he was kidnapped. The bike, the gang, the ambush, and then waking up, bound and gagged in a cold, concrete room.

_It was cold. He couldn't move. That much he was certain of. It didn't stop him from struggling against his restraints, but he was pretty sure he wasn't getting out. He pulled against the rope around his wrists until his hands felt wet and the pain became unbearable. Then someone entered the room and started kicking him. _

_Why? Why was this happening? What did they want? Why wasn't this man saying anything? _

"Kato!" Kato's eyes jerked around to see Maggie, hovering over him, her face a mask of concern. Where had he seen her before?

"Sorry, I'm still a little tired is all," He mumbled, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"That's alright. Tell me about the bike. Have you usually had problems with it?"

"No, not really. I mean, it's restored and all, but I take good care of it. It just stopped out of nowhere. That's never happened before," Kato shrugged. He'd have to take a closer look at the bike.

"Okay, one last question, then I'll let you eat your jello and go to sleep," Maggie said with a small smile. "How did you come to the states?"

Kato blinked. This was an odd question. Why would she need to know this?

"Um, there was this mechanic whose son was in China for a school trip. I was about 14, and I was looking for a place to sleep. I was also really hungry, so I tried to grab his wallet. He caught me by my wrist and asked me what I was doing. His teacher let me stay in the hotel room with him, and the next day he called his father to ask if they'd let me come to the U.S.

"So when I got here, I had a work visa. I didn't know there was a difference. So this man had me work in his garage for him," Kato finished.

"How much did he pay you?" Maggie asked, frowning like something was wrong.

"I don't understand. He let me sleep in the house, and sometimes he'd give me some money. That was the agreement."

"So, you're saying he didn't pay you to work for him in his shop. Did you have food to eat? Where was the room?"

"The room was in the basement, because they didn't have any other rooms. I had to get my own food. That's normal, right?" Kato shrugged again. He didn't see the problem. Other than the fact that his living arrangements then had been no different than the orphanage's, things had been okay. There weren't problems, right?

"Kato, what this man did was wrong. You were supposed to be making money. And if he was sponsoring you, he was supposed to have given you food and a decent place to sleep. He kept you as an indentured servant. That's not okay," Maggie said.

"I don't understand. That was the agreement. I was supposed to honor that," Kato said more emphatically. She was going to send him back. He just knew it. He'd broken the law when he ran away. He was going to get deported.

"Calm down. Just because it was the agreement doesn't mean what happened to you was okay. Had someone told the police what was going on, you'd have been given refuge and your sponsor would have gone to jail. Your sponsor is supposed to agree to take care of you if you're younger than 18. Your sponsor didn't do that. He forced you to work in unsafe conditions, housed you in a basement and didn't feed you. You've had a tough life, haven't you," Maggie finished. She patted his arm. "You get some rest. We'll talk about getting you a green card in the morning. I'm sure INS will be more than willing to help out."

* * *

**Yes, I know Kato's story of how he came to the U.S. is completely implausible. Don't worry. All will be resolved by the end of the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

Something in the Water

Outside the room, Britt stood waiting for the FBI agent to come out. When she finally did, she looked grave.

"What happened? Is Kato okay? What were you talking about?" Britt bombarded her with questions as soon as he could.

"Kato should be fine. We'll start the process of getting him a green card as soon as possible, but I'm going to recommend a therapist I know. His name is William Chang. He's Chinese himself, so Kato won't have to worry about a language barrier. I'm pretty sure Kato was pretty traumatized well before this whole incident started," Maggie said.

"How bad?" Lenore asked, suddenly shy.

Maggie looked up. "Bad. His original work sponsor probably abused him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was abused in that orphanage. Somewhere in his head he thinks it's okay for people to hurt him because he's somehow less important."

"Wait, he was _abused?_" Britt practically shrieked, then lowered his voice as not to wake the sleeping Kato in the room. "What do you mean? I know he lived on the streets, but I didn't think it was that bad. He's pretty well adjusted."

"You don't think a sponsor giving you a mattress in the basement and no food for long work hours and little pay isn't abuse when you've had far worse forced upon you by someone who should protect you," Maggie muttered. "The only concern is just how bad the abuse was, and I doubt he'll talk about it. Give him some time to heal, and get him out of that apartment he's living in. He's not safe there for the time being. It's more likely that being isolated for any long period of time will put him at higher risk until we can figure out who hired Jeremy Longhurst."

* * *

The weeks passed uneventfully. Kato's hands eventually healed enough to be useful again. As soon as he could, he was back in the garage, working on the cars.

After a lot of cajoling and general riding, Britt had eventually managed to convince Kato to move into the pool house while he moved into the main house. At the same time, Kato was being unbearably stubborn about one other very important thing:

Therapy.

It was ironic that the one thing he needed most was the one thing he was adamant about avoiding. One memorable moment was when Kato stormed away from Britt, only to walk straight into the pool because he wasn't paying attention to anything other than a muttered rant in Chinese.

So that night wasn't something that was too different than any of the others had been for the last several weeks.

Kato slept fitfully, nightmares plaguing his sleep. His arm flung itself over his head, and he burrowed himself deeper under the covers in a desperate attempt to hide from the monsters. Who knew where they were hiding?

_The flames licked the side of the apartment wall. Momma! Why aren't you coming to get me? What's wrong? Why aren't you and Daddy moving? Wake up! Please! Why is the neighbor man taking me out of the fire? What's going on? I'm scared!_

Kato sat up suddenly. He hadn't remembered that before. He remembered the fire. He remembered that _someone_ got him out. He just couldn't remember who. The neighbor had looked so familiar in his dream. But he couldn't put his finger on it.

He pulled his sketch pad into his lap. He started drawing from memory. The dream was fading fast. He had to get that face on paper. He started sketching. When he finished, he looked at his work.

He screamed and threw the sketch pad across the room.

He never wanted to remember that face again.

He had to be wrong. He just had to. There was no other explanation for it. If he was right, that meant – something. He just didn't know what.

* * *

Kato sat at the breakfast table heavily. He was exhausted. Another mostly sleepless night meant he was going to get sloppy again. Britt sat down with the fixings for a bowl of cereal.

"You want coffee?" Kato asked, suddenly. "I need coffee," Kato got up from the table.

"Um, yes…?" Britt said after him, slightly confused.

Kato set to work making the coffee. Britt couldn't be right about therapy. Telling people what happened was a one way ticket to pain. He didn't think he could handle that.

But then, there were all sorts of stories on television and in books about how therapy was supposed to help people. But could he be helped? Was he good enough? He'd done a lot of very bad things in his life. He'd probably go to jail if he told someone.

He didn't even notice that he'd finished both cups. They looked about perfect. He carried both of them to the table and set one in front of Britt. He sat down on his end and took a sip of coffee.

It was terrible. He'd made a mistake.

"Damn it," Kato muttered, setting the cup down. Had he roasted the beans right? Was it the right grind? Had he gotten the water ratios right?

"Not your usual brew but not bad," Britt said. In truth, he'd wanted to grimace. The coffee's roast was way darker than usual, but Kato just looked like he wanted to cry. Which was odd because Kato never cried.

"Don't lie. It doesn't taste right," Kato muttered.

"So it's not the usual stuff. Sometimes that happens. Did you sleep last night? I thought I heard something," Britt said, remembering the blood curdling scream he'd heard from the direction of the pool house in the middle of the night.

"I'm fine," Kato replied shortly.

"Seriously, man, you need to go to therapy or something. Are you sleeping at all?" Britt replied.

"I told you to stop pushing it!" Kato shouted and stood up from the table so hard it knocked a chair back. He swore, and then picked the chair up. Then he stalked off in the direction of the pool house to get his work coveralls. He needed to do some work on the Black Beauty. Maybe put in a new security system.

He felt Britt's hand on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "I told you to go away!" He shouted.

"Dude, Kato, chill. I was just stopping you from walking into the pool again," Britt had his hands up somewhat defensively. "I don't want to have to save you again. Last time you looked like you were more freaked out by me touching you than the fact you almost drowned."

Kato turned around. Yup. He'd been mere inches from walking straight into the pool again. Was he really that distracted?

"Sorry. I'm thinking about a lot of stuff."

"Don't worry about it," Britt replied. "Hey, I was thinking, instead of going out and saving the world tonight, maybe you want a swimming lesson."

"A what?"

"A swimming lesson," Britt repeated. "You know, teaching you to drown with style instead of the crazy chicken flail you do every time you get near the water?"

"Why? Why is this important?" Kato asked.

"Because if we ever end up in a situation where we need to swim to safety I don't think I can pull you," Britt replied with a smirk. He couldn't say what he was really thinking: That maybe learning to do something new would take his friend's mind off of his troubles.

Kato thought for a minute. "Yeah, okay. I could do that."

"Great. I'll get you some swim trunks from the house," Britt replied with excitement. Then he bounded off to the house.

* * *

Kato sat down on the couch inside. What had he been thinking? He couldn't let Britt see him without a shirt! He didn't let _anyone_ see him like that. Not even girls. What was he gonna do? His eyes scanned the room. A t-shirt. Yeah. He'd wear a shirt in the pool so no one would see.

* * *

Shortly after he'd brought the swim trunks to Kato, Britt sat poolside, waiting for his friend to return. He'd thought about something inside: Teaching someone to swim meant touching them. Kato probably didn't realize that. He was probably going to panic. So how would he teach someone to swim who had serious touch issues?

Britt was brought out of his reverie by Kato emerging from the pool house with a t-shirt and the swim trunks. As much as he'd say something to anyone else, he couldn't now. He'd seen the burn marks from the kidnapping. Kato was probably embarrassed. Britt didn't say a word.

"You ready?" He asked. Kato nodded. He looked nervous.

"What if it's too deep?" Kato asked.

"It's not. We're gonna stay in the shallow end for a while. It'll only go up to your waist." Britt held out his arm so Kato could get his balance in the water.

Kato refused help at first. Apparently he wasn't expecting the water to offer as much resistance as it was to move through. He stumbled a little.

"Ever been in the water before?"

"No," Kato replied sheepishly.

"Grab my arm for a minute. You'll get used to it. It just takes time," Britt instructed. Kato did as he was told.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Now you learn to float," Britt replied. Then an idea hit him. Kato was good at repeating forms he'd seen. "Just watch what I do, then do the same." Britt laid back and stretched his arms out, letting the water hold him up. Then, he felt movement beside him. Britt peeked over. Kato was trying to do the same, and failing slightly. He kept jerking back upright as he started sinking.

"Here, let me help you," Britt said.

"No, I can do it," Kato adamantly replied. Britt watched as he failed again. He wasn't arching his back enough. He told Kato so when he jerked up again. Another attempt and he did it.

The floating was nice. Kato couldn't help but enjoy the fact that he was in water, and the water was behaving itself. He floated for a bit, eyes closed. After a moment, something tapped his arm, and he lost his concentration.

Then the water flooded in and he couldn't breathe.

_Hands holding him under the water. Can't breathe! Hands hurt! Stop! Let me up! Stop laughing! I'll be good I promise! _

The next thing Kato knew, he was being hauled up onto the ground. He coughed and sputtered. Britt was rubbing his cheek.

"Kato, oh my god. What is all that?" Britt asked, wide eyed and suddenly worried. Kato looked down. His t-shirt was bunched up under his armpits.

"Nothing," he replied hastily as he yanked his shirt back down. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. I thought the only scars you had were from the burns. What happened in there? You really gave me a punch!" Britt's concerned visage swam into view. That red spot on his cheek was going to bruise.

"It's just old scars. That's all," Kato snapped. He was shivering, suddenly cold. A towel was draped over his shoulders. He hugged his knees. No one could know.

* * *

**Guess what: I like reviews. It lets me know my story's being read. **


	5. Chapter 5

Profile the Devil

Kato spent the rest of the day working on cars, and that night they'd gone out trying to shut down several meth labs that had cropped up in the city. When they returned, Kato had slipped off to the pool house to try and get some sleep. He really didn't want to have a drinking session with Britt. He didn't want to accidentally tell Britt his deepest, darkest secret about the scars.

That night he dreamed again. He hadn't had nice dreams in so long, so at first the dream about Maggie was a welcome surprise.

_Maggie's curls bounced around her shoulders. She was wearing a lovely black one piece swimsuit. Most sexy women wore bikinis, but not Maggie. She didn't seem to have to show every bit of skin and curve to be pretty. _

"_Hey, how about a dip?" She asked, slowly stepping into the pool. Kato pointed to himself. Me? She nodded, seductively. Kato looked down. He was only wearing the swim trunks from that morning. No t-shirt. The whole world could see his scars. _

"_I have scars…" he started._

"_So?" Maggie replied, as if scars should be the least of his worries. She dove under the water and came back up, slicking her water-straight hair back and away from her face. Kato felt a stirring in his pants. Then he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Was it Britt?_

"_I warned you. You're mine. You're my favorite," a dark, terrifying voice said. Kato suddenly felt afraid. He knew that voice. He knew what it meant. He turned around. He was fully clothed and in an alley and that face from the night before was on top of him with a knife. _

_Maggie was screaming little girl screams, curses at the face. Bai? Delun? Why are you here? Why aren't you moving? You protected me! Why are you laying there? There's so much blood… _

"_This is your fault," Bai said. _

"_We were supposed to protect each other on the street. You just can't do your job," Delun told him. Then the face clamped a hand over his mouth to stop his screams._

But the hand was there when Kato woke up.

* * *

Britt was walking with Lenore down to the pool house. After yesterday, they were going to have to confront Kato about therapy.

"Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. He literally fought me when I tried to pull him out of the water. He was shaking and I don't think he's okay. At all. Maggie was right. Kato's not only been abused, he's probably been holding it in for so long that being kidnapped just let it all out." Britt said, now determined to get his best friend help.

"How bad were the scars? Really. Tell me," Lenore said softly. Britt stopped for a second and looked at her.

"Bad." He started walking again. "They were all over his back and chest. Lots of raised bumps – like someone took a whip to him a few times, but beat him until there wasn't anywhere left to beat every time. It makes sense that he doesn't want to be touched," Britt replied. He stopped in his tracks. The door to the pool house was open.

"Britt, something's wrong. Do you really think Kato would leave the door open like that if he's having nightmares?" Lenore asked, already dreading the answer.

"No, I don't," Britt replied. He cautiously stepped through the doorway and surveyed the wreckage.

The couch/bed had been nearly tossed over and the covers were all over the floor. Picture frames and martial arts trophies were scattered across the floor, and movies had been knocked over.

That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the blood on the wall near the very large, head shaped dent.

"Call Maggie. Kato's gone again."

* * *

Kato shifted groggily. A hand brushed the hair away from his forehead. Kato's eyes snapped open. Where was he? He looked around. This wasn't his room. There were other people here. In fact, he was in a chair. And the face from his dream was next to him.

It was an airplane. He was sitting in a damn airplane. He'd have to scream. Then he heard the face ask the stewardess something in English.

"I need to give my son his medication now. I think he might need more insulin." Insulin? What was this man talking about? Kato saw the woman nod, and the next thing he knew, a needle was being jabbed into his arm.

Then all he knew was sleep.

* * *

Maggie stormed into the main house.

"Please _tell_ me someone told Kato his life was still in danger," she snapped. Britt and Lenore looked at each other, then back to Maggie.

"No, I think we both thought it would make things worse if we did," Lenore said softly.

"Well, you thought wrong. Kato needed to be hyper vigilant looking out for this bastard. Now the kidnapper likely has a head start on us, we don't know where he's going or if he's even keeping Kato in the country, and we haven't got a clue who he is. Nice going. I'm going to run a profile back at the bureau. I'll come back when I can, but don't be surprised if finding Kato again is a lot harder. This guy is good," She yelled.

As soon as Maggie had stalked off and the front door had slammed itself shut, Britt ran his hands through his hair. "She's right. Why didn't I tell him? He could have protected himself better if he knew," he groaned.

"We were trying to protect him, Britt. Maggie's just in a snit. She gets like this when she sees flaws in her plans. Plus she's the only profiler at the local offices, so she probably hasn't even made a dent in her work so far, and now she has another case that she's personally invested in. Most likely the bureau will bring in another profiling unit and Maggie will get all worked up again because they're in her territory," Lenore said, trying to calm her boss.

"But she'll find him, right?" He asked, worried.

"She'll try. With her dying breath she will try and find Kato."

* * *

When he woke up again, Kato was instantly terrified. He was tied to a pole in the middle of a dark, cold, windowless room. His wrists were above him, his shoulders were starting to hurt from the strain, and he was gagged again. Why did all bad guys need a room like this to hold hostages? It wouldn't have been as bad as the last time had he been wearing all of his clothes. As it was, just wearing boxers didn't keep you anywhere near warm enough to avoid shivering.

When the door at the top of the stairs opened, Kato started struggling. He knew what was coming. It would be no different than when he was a little child and the door opened.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

Maggie scanned through the evidence taken from Kato's room. This Unsub – or Unknown Subject – would be much harder to profile than the last kidnapper. This Unsub was good. He'd worked hard to keep all personal traces out of the pool house.

Her computer dinged to let her know she had a new email. She took a look. It was exactly what she'd been looking for: Kato's social services records. It was written in Chinese, but she had little trouble pulling the salient points from the record.

Kato's parents had died in a mysterious fire when he was four. Kato had only been able to say that a "Big Man" had pulled him out of the fire. The bodies had been burned to a crisp, lungs and all, so the coroner hadn't made a final decision on cause of death. They hadn't been cremated, so Maggie made a note to herself to request an exhumation and necropsy.

The record keeping at the orphanage Kato was placed in was apparently abysmal. There were mentions of medical problems, but no documentation of these medical problems. Red flag. There were mentions of foster families sending him back for behavior problems. Another red flag. And then a serious mention of bedwetting. Really big, giant red flag.

She took a peek at the name of the orphanage director at the time. Piao Ming-Hoa. That name sounded awfully familiar. She thought back for a moment. Then it hit her. Of course! She picked up the phone.

"Daddy, do you remember when we lived in China with Momma and you stopped that man from killing that boy? What was that man's name? Do you remember? Because I think the boy told us."

* * *

Where had he seen her before? Why was there the screaming when he tried to remember Maggie? Kato simply couldn't pin down where.

He hurt all over. The cane used to beat him had left some nasty welts over old scars. He was going to be in a lot more pain soon, if this man had remained the same as he had all those years ago. In a lot more pain, and likely wetting the bed again.

As soon as Maggie hung up the phone, she had her profile. Unfortunately, getting the Chinese Consulate to agree with the plan could take days – weeks even. Time that Kato didn't have if her profile was correct. What was the time? 2 AM. Okay, if she waited a few hours, she could legitimately wake Britt Reid and Lenore to give her profile over the airwaves.

Or she could give the profile to the Chinese Consulate right now and tell Britt and Lenore at a more reasonable hour.

* * *

Maggie chose the latter.

She switched on the webcam and contacted the necessary people. After a little talking, she was eventually able to get online. A man's face appeared. He looked like he'd seen all of the world's troubles and was still desperately trying to solve them all by himself. This man was Fa Guozhi, her contact at the Chinese Consulate.

"Mr. Guozhi, thank you for meeting me in such informal conditions on such short notice. My name is Special Agent Maggie Clawson and I have a serious problem that I need your help with," she started in Chinese. Flatter the man a little. The little, American profiler needed the help of a Chinese man in charge.

"I am sure we can assist one another, Miss. What can I do for the American FBI?" He replied in English. This wasn't good. His English was better than her Chinese. So Maggie took the hint and continued in English.

"A young Chinese man currently only going by his first name, Kato, was kidnapped from the city here. We believe it may have been by a man who runs an orphanage in Shanghai. His name is Piao Ming-Hoa. Everything in this profile says he has good reason to kidnap Kato. Kato's last name was formerly Peng, but it says in his records that the name was formally changed to Ming-Hoa as well."

"I know the man you speak of. He is a good man as far as I can tell. I read the news story about both of these people. Piao Ming-Hoa rescued a young boy named Kato Peng from a burning building, but the boy's parents were killed. He took the boy in as his own. I do not see where you are going with this," the man replied.

"I would like to formally request an exhumation be performed on the Peng family. I suspect they were dead long before the fire began," Maggie said slowly. The man on the other end of the computer looked shocked.

"How can you be certain of this? What does your profile say?" He practically shouted.

"If you would, pull up the social records for Kato Ming-Hoa and tell me what you see. Because I see evidence of serious abuse. In the first place, despite claiming that Kato is his son, Mr. Ming-Hoa doesn't take him into his home. He places him in the orphanage he runs.

"Secondly, I see mentions of medical problems with no documentation. If memory serves, all of that must be in the child's file in case of adoption. That tells me that someone wanted to hide the injuries. This is almost always the case for abused children.

"Third, there are the repeat returns by foster families. Tell me, why would a man allow his adopted son to be given away and returned so often? And why would a child so young have such severe behavior problems? I can see a certain amount from seeing a parent die, but I cannot believe that a child would only get progressively worse.

"Finally, the mentions of bedwetting. Chronic bedwetting at that age is only seen is a few instances, and none of them are good. The most common? Prolonged sexual abuse.

"Mr. Guozhi, I am convinced that this man, Piao Ming-Hoa, watched, plotted, and then killed the parents of Kato Peng simply to have full access to the boy. If you look at past living records, Mr. Ming-Hoa lived only across the alleyway from the Peng family. He likely would have had a direct view into their home. If you need time to assemble your evidence, I would be more than happy to oblige. But please, bear in mind that Kato has been missing for two days already, is likely somewhere in China, scared, in pain, and probably being abused further," Maggie finished.

There was a long pause at the other end.

"What would this man do if a young boy he was doing all this to were to run away from him? How would he react?" Fa Guozhi said from the other end of the computer.

"This man is a plotter. He's the worst kind of sociopath because he believes all life exists simply to serve him. Should a young boy who he sees as his property run away from him, the results could be disastrous for both the child and anyone protecting him should this man get the chance. He's careful, exacting, and tenacious. He will stop at nothing to get his property back. In fact, I suspect but currently cannot prove that Piao Ming-Hoa murdered the two teenage boys that ran away with Kato simply to retrieve the boy," Maggie said. "Their names would have been… Bai Fang and Delun Jinhai," Maggie finished, looking up the names of the dead children.

"If all of what you have said is true, are the other children at the orphanage at risk?" Guozhi asked, suddenly more concerned than ever.

"Absolutely. This man has an insatiable sexual appetite. Just because the object of his affection has left, it doesn't mean he'll stop raping children. While he is likely sexually discriminate – meaning he only prefers a single gender – there _are_ instances of sexually indiscriminant pedophiles out there. I cannot be sure, but it is highly likely that all of the children residing at that orphanage are at risk for at the very least physical abuse," Maggie answered.

"I will mount an investigation immediately, but I must have someone come forward before I can truly investigate. I will do what I can to stop this man from hurting children any further.

"Now, may I ask a more personal question, Special Agent Clawson? Was your mother the history professor Elizabeth Clawson?" He asked with a slight smile.

"That would be her. I hope she didn't give you a bad grade on a paper from that time we lived in China," Maggie said, and sat back for a small conversation. She smiled. Her parents' contacts really had come in handy.

* * *

**As always, reviews are appreciated. **


	6. Chapter 6

The Mainland

Kato struggled against the ropes now binding him. He was no longer attached to the pole, but he was bound so tightly he almost longed for it.

His wrists had been bound to the other arm's elbows behind his back, forcing him into a box tie. His shoulders and arms ached from the strain. He could feel the stickiness of blood on his back from the whip. The cloth gag hadn't been removed, and he wasn't looking forward to more endless hours with it in.

His ankles were still tied, and he struggled. Oh, how he struggled against his bonds.

The door opened. The hated face of his captor entered the room. After a few rounds of being kicked, Kato could feel hands at the waistband of his boxers. No. NO! Not again! He struggled and screamed against the hands roaming his body and the sensation of his boxers around his knees.

He knew what was coming, and it wasn't good.

* * *

Ten days. That was how long they had waited for news. Britt paced the floor in the living room. Lenore watched him from the couch. Ever since Maggie had given them her profile two days after Kato's second kidnapping, they had been waiting. The Chinese Consulate couldn't move forward until someone gave them a complaint.

Britt sighed, sat down next to Lenore, and dropped his head in his hands.

"What do we do now? We have nowhere to start looking, and Maggie said the suspect they have already went back to China. What do we do?" Britt turned to Lenore, desperately wanting answers.

She opened her mouth to reply when her cell phone rang. "Maggie? Did you get something? Oh… oh my god. We'll be there in a minute," She practically shouted and hung up the phone. "They're moving ahead. Someone came forward to corroborate the profile. Maggie wants us down at the airport within two hours."

"Grab a suitcase and let's go!" Britt exclaimed excitedly. They were going to find Kato, and then everything would be okay. Right? He just knew it.

* * *

"I have to inform you that whatever is going on with Kato, it cannot be good," Maggie started as the private jet took off. The FBI certainly knew how to take care of its agents.

"How bad are we talking here? A little banged up like last time or what?" Britt asked.

"Worse. Far worse if what the children are saying is true," Maggie said, gravely.

"Children? There are children involved? How bad _is_ this?" Lenore asked, suddenly terrified.

"This is what we believe happened…" Maggie began her story.

* * *

"Kato Peng was a normal little boy with a normal family life. He and his parents lived in a high rise apartment in Shanghai, and Kato likely suffered from very few behavior problems. Possibly the odd tantrum or bad habit, but that wouldn't be uncommon for a four-year-old.

"About three months after his fourth birthday, a fire broke out in the Peng's apartment. Kato was the only survivor. He only identified the man who pulled him out of the fire as the 'Big Man.' Unfortunately, this didn't give investigators anything to work off of, and because he was only four, they didn't question him further.

"What a reporter discovered was that the man's name was Piao Ming-Hoa. Had the reporter and the police worked together, they would have found the first suspicious fact: Piao Ming-Hoa lived across the alleyway, and appears to possibly have had a direct view into Kato's bedroom from his windows. There was no reason for him to be in the Pengs' apartment. The Pengs did not know this man, nor did he know them.

"But this man is a pedophile with a serious obsession: Kato. Because he rescued Kato from the fire, Ming-Hoa feels that Kato somehow 'owes' him. He takes his payment by claiming the boy as his own and giving him a new last name. Ever wonder why Kato doesn't tell anyone what his last name is? He's terrified of it. To him, this last name was the ultimate destruction of his childhood. We only knew his last name because it was on his visa applications. It's required by law.

"Because Ming-Hoa doesn't truly care for the child, he places him in the orphanage he runs. He now has constant, easy access to a victim without having to house him or worry about his well being. To him, this job is perfect. He has total access to any child he wants, he can tell them they're worthless if they don't comply, and he can continue to exert dominance over all of them for as long as he needs.

"Over the next eight years he both physically and sexually abuses Kato and many other children in the orphanage at the time. Then, Kato turns twelve, and two older boys – Bai Fang and Delun Jinhai – decide to take him and run. Bai and Delun protect their younger charge for about four years. They are now nineteen, and Kato is sixteen.

"Then Ming-Hoa finds all three boys. Remember: To this man, Kato is his property, not another human being. In essence, he believes that Bai and Delun stole his property. Therefore, he has no qualms about killing both of them, and then attempting to destroy his property so that no one else can have it. A man – who is actually my father, believe it or not – finds Ming-Hoa in the process of attempted murder.

"Once caught, Ming-Hoa only values himself, so he runs. Kato is left behind, and then concocts a story about stealing a boy's wallet so that he doesn't have to face the horrific truth about what happened to his friends. I checked. There isn't a school anywhere in the U.S. who would take an entire class of students to urban China, and then let a street kid sleep in one of the rooms.

"Now I get to my own memories. That day, I was out with my father. My mother was teaching in a university at the time, and my father worked for the U.S. Embassy. I was about fourteen, and so I was out walking with my father looking for something sweet for after dinner. We came upon a rather horrific scene. I remember seeing two dead boys and a large man on top of another. My father pulled the man off and he ran, and Daddy let the boy sleep in one of the rooms at home until we could get him a visa.

"The boy's name was Kato. He slept most of the time he was there because he was actually very sick. If memory serves, he almost died of the flu of all things while he was in my parents' care. My father got him a student visa, but we weren't going to return to the states anytime soon. We were not aware that the sponsor we'd arranged had lied to the state and changed the visa to a work visa, and then proceeded to make him a wage slave.

"All the while, Piao Ming-Hoa is obsessed with getting his 'property' back. In fact, he mounts a remote search until he finds a newspaper article about a young man named Kato winning a martial arts competition. Now he knows where his boy has gone, and he will stop at nothing to get him back. He hires Jeremy Longhurst to kidnap Kato and bring him to China, unaware that Jeremy intends to get more money for the job, and therefore loses his package.

"Now Ming-Hoa has to wait until the object of his obsession is well enough to travel. As soon as he is, Ming-Hoa strikes, taking Kato from his room in the middle of the night. He doesn't expect the kind of struggle he gets, but he isn't unprepared. He leaves behind little evidence of himself.

"But he made the mistake of leaving a long profile. Everything this man has done has been to satisfy his sexual urge to rape young children. He's broken his usual age range solely because he now has someone he has obsessed on for a very long time.

"Kato isn't safe. He hasn't been for most of his life, and he isn't now. The Chinese Consulate has gone and spoken with several children at the orphanage, and they all say the same thing: Piao Ming-Hoa touched them. He's sexually indiscriminate, and he's very dangerous.

"The Consulate also exhumed the bodies of Kato's parents upon my request. Both of them were strangled. While there wasn't much left, their hyoid bones – a floating bit of bone over the larynx – were broken. There's no way to break the hyoid bone without holding it down. These people were strangled, and Kato's mother's head was kicked in before the life was choked out of her.

"The kicker was when a young man who was in the orphanage at the same time Kato was came forward. He currently works for the Consulate himself. He admitted that he knew what was going on, and that he himself had been molested. Apparently, Kato was this man's 'favorite.'

"We have a serious problem on our hands. We do not know where Ming-Hoa is keeping Kato, nor do we know what he will do when we get there. There is a very good chance Kato is alive – why else would he go to all that trouble? – but we do not know what kind of state he will be in. The consulate will be waiting for us to go ahead and find him when we land," Maggie finished.

"It all makes sense," Britt said, thinking. "This is why you speak Chinese, and why Kato looks at you funny. He recognizes you. And this is why he doesn't talk about his parents. He's drawn them a number of times – I've seen his pictures. I wonder if this bastard ever tried drowning him. Kato's terrified of the water. He hung around when my dad started getting not only crazy and paranoid, but Kato said he was getting angry about random stuff. Dad took better care of him than anyone else in his whole life ever had. It makes sense."

"And he made you his honorary brother. Kato's cobbling family together anywhere he can. He's desperate for that feeling of safety, whether he's aware of it or not," Lenore added.

"Well, you'd better sit back and get some rest. We've got the rest of this nice long flight to consider how we're going in. And I seriously hope you brought your Green Hornet costume, Britt, because you're going to need it," Maggie said, her southern accent almost making her seem carefree.

* * *

Time passed agonizingly slowly. He did not know how long he had been in that basement, when the last time he had eaten was, or what was going to happen next. No windows or lights meant no sense of time. All he knew was that he hurt, he was hungry, he was naked, and he just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

How he wished he never had to wake up.

* * *

As the plane touched down, Britt started feeling more and more nervous. What if Kato really wasn't alive? What if Maggie was wrong and Kato was nowhere near here? The "what ifs" spun around his gut, making him feel sicker and sicker.

There were people waiting for them as they stepped off the plane. Maggie greeted them and introduced herself and the others in Chinese. Fa Guozhi stepped forward and introduced himself in English.

"I am Fa Guozhi. I have heard of the problem, and we will stop this man at any cost. We have done a little research ourselves. Piao Ming-Hoa has a warehouse he has rented in Shanghai, only a few blocks from his orphanage," the man said.

"Then we have to go immediately," Maggie implored.

"That was what I was thinking. I think it might be worse luck to wait for you all to be settled in to your rooms than to go right away."

* * *

The sounds were tremendous. He could hear doors slamming and people shouting in both Chinese and English. He was too weak. Too weak to do a thing. He stared off into space as the man on top of him and in him was grunting.

* * *

Britt was dressed in full Green Hornet garb, waiting outside with Maggie and others from the Chinese police force. Maggie had drawn her gun, and Britt had drawn the knockout gun. She caught the eyes of the others and nodded. Then she turned and kicked the door in.

Ming-Hoa was a roundish sort of man. He looked like he'd seen many good meals in his lifetime. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was naked from the waist down and raping Kato, who in turn was gazing off into space.

Maggie shouted something in Chinese, and Britt yelled "Get off of him!" Ming-Hoa didn't seem to notice. He seemed to be focused only on what he was doing. When Maggie grabbed his shirt and yanked him off of the younger man, he looked surprise.

His genitals were grotesquely swollen. Britt wanted to be sick. So he turned his attention to his injured friend.

Not only was he too thin, but there wasn't an inch of Kato that wasn't covered in bruises. He was black and blue everywhere, and there was dried blood on top of most of that. There was more blood pouring between his legs, adding to the already crusted mass of dried blood there. Kato's clothing was gone. Britt pulled off his trench coat and draped it over his friend.

Kato's mouth gaped like a fish.

"Hey, hey. Everything's gonna be okay now," Britt said, being careful not to touch. Kato looked so small and innocent lying there on the concrete. The bruises almost made Britt want to vomit. Then, Kato's eyes met his for a brief moment.

Then they rolled back into his head.

Then everything started moving very fast.

* * *

Britt wasn't sure how much time had passed. He knew they were running into the hospital with Kato on a stretcher, but he didn't quite know how they'd gotten there. He knew it happened – that the ambulance came – but he didn't quite remember it.

The whole thing was a blur.

He knew Maggie and Lenore were leading him away from Kato's side, and he didn't like it. Not one bit. It didn't matter that the doctors were working on him, and that they'd tell him if something went wrong. He knew that Kato was hooked up to literally dozens of machines that were measuring his vitals. He knew that Kato would likely live through this, and that he was being given liquid calories to combat how thin he'd gotten in the almost two weeks he'd been gone.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

And so, he found himself sitting in a waiting room with Lenore while Maggie went off to interrogate the suspect, waiting for news of his friend.

Hours passed, and all the information Maggie was able to get for them when she returned was that Kato was in surgery. At least one broken rib had caused internal bleeding, and they were desperate to heal him. Britt felt nothing. He'd never felt this numb. Even when his father had died, he had never really felt anything like this. He could easily lose his best friend – his Shong-di – and there was literally nothing he could do to stop it. He remembered when Chudnofski was pointing a gun at Kato's head, but he'd never felt like this when he saw that.

So utterly helpless.

* * *

**So I know this was probably the least interesting of the chapters so far, but it is rather necessary. At least Kato's safe now, right? Reviews are, as always, appreciated.**


	7. Chapter 7

The Island

"_Kato, buddy, what are you doing?" Kato looked up to see Britt standing up in a boat. Kato kept sitting, hugging his knees. It was a lovely island he'd built. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave. _

"_I'm relaxing," he said to Britt. "It's nice here." _

"_Dude, you can't stay here. There's nothing here. Just trees," Britt replied, crouching down in the boat. "You don't have any food, and it's getting cold."He was right. It was getting a little cold. Kato shivered a bit. He was only wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt. Not warm enough._

"_I can stay here forever. I built this island, I can build food for it," that made perfect sense in his head. Out loud, not so much._

"_Build food? From what? Kato, you've gotta come back home."_

"_No I don't! I'm safe here!" Kato shouted._

"_Kato, please! You've got to come back!" Kato looked again. Lenore was sitting there in the dress she'd been wearing when he'd first met her. Those heels weren't appropriate for his island or for a boat. What was she thinking?_

"_I'm staying here," he replied._

"_Kato, can you look at me for a moment?" That voice. Where did it come from? Kato whipped his head around, looking for the voice. He saw Maggie, standing behind him. He turned around. Why was she always more covered up than any other girl he'd met? And who let her onto his island? She was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a green, long sleeved shirt. Her curly hair blew to one side as the wind whipped it. _

"_I'm looking. What do you want?" He asked. _

"_I want you to wake up."_

"_I'm awake," he replied._

"_No, you're not. Please listen," she began calmly. "You've built yourself a safe place here," Maggie said as she walked over to join him on the edge of the island. "But do you realize what this place has done? You've spent a lot of time here, haven't you?"_

"_Yes, but I like it," he said, somewhat defensively._

"_I know you do. But think about how isolated you've been. When was the last time anyone was really allowed to get close? I see you let Britt and Lenore in, but only in the loosest of ways. They can talk, but they can't touch you. You don't have to interact if you don't want to. Are you sure this is how you want to live your life?" Maggie said._

"_Yes – no… I don't know," Kato finally admitted. "I like things the way they are."_

"_Really? Are you sure of that? Because you've done nothing but isolate yourself. You've never met anyone you're really friends with, and to some degree, you really don't give Britt the chance to be your friend. Lenore really cares about you, but you don't seem to want to give her that chance, either. You've given me that chance, but only because you deep down remember who I am, and who you can associate me with: My Father, the man who rescued you," Maggie pointed out all of this, all without losing her wonderful calm._

"_But I can learn sometime. It works right now. I just have to get better first," Kato rationalized. _

"_Not for much longer. Every moment you stay here, that shoreline gets farther and farther away," Maggie replied, pointing to the mainland. "You don't have as much time as you think. You might want to call Britt and Lenore back so you can go back to shore."_

_Then, Maggie stood up, and walked away._

"_Wait! How are you going to get back?" Kato called after her._

"_The same way I got here!" She called back with the tiniest of smiles._

_

* * *

_

Britt sat next to his friend in the hospital. The doctors had to remove Kato's spleen. The bastard who'd done this had kicked Kato so hard and so often that his spleen had ruptured. And now, Kato was lying in a coma. No one could explain what had brought on this coma, but they could say that there was no telling when he'd come out of it and they couldn't take him home until then.

Fortunately, Maggie had more pull than they'd realized. She'd managed to procure a temporary visa for when it was time to take Kato back to the states. Unfortunately, it was still a no-go. Britt sighed and set his book down. He brushed an errant strand of hair away from Kato's forehead.

The bruises were still there, and there were too many to count. Either way, Piao Ming-Hoa was going away for a long time. There was no doubt about that. Britt was afraid to touch. He understood, now, why Kato didn't like being touched. Had he been sexually abused himself, he'd never want anyone to touch him again. He could only imagine what Kato had gone through in that time.

"Dude, you can wake up now. Anytime you want. It's okay. No one can hurt you anymore, we made sure of it. I need you to wake up so we can make sure this never happens to anymore kids. Come on, man, we're a team! And I can't stop the bad guys without you."

Now he just wondered if he'd ever get the chance to tell his friend it would be okay while he was awake.

* * *

_Kato hadn't wanted to leave his safe spot near the edge of the island. But he was getting hungry, and it was getting colder and colder, and he couldn't start a fire. He looked around. There had always been food before. Where had it gone?_

_Kato finally got up from his spot on the ground. How had Maggie gotten off the island? Britt and Lenore had never truly gone away. They had sat in their boat in the water, the distance between them and the edge of the island growing larger and larger. _

_Maggie had been right. The island was moving farther away from the mainland. _

_Then he started wandering around. He heard splashing. Britt was rowing the little boat along with him. Would Britt and Lenore really always stay in view? He'd never gone very far on his island – certainly not to the other side. This wasn't something he'd ever experienced. _

_He thought about the mainland. It was a dark place. Bad things happened there. Bad things that children should never have to worry about. Kato didn't want to go to the mainland. He liked his safe island. _

_Then he reached the other side of the island. Britt and Lenore were still following him. Maggie was sitting next to a lovely fire, and the start of a bridge. There was another mainland – this one unconnected to the old one. _

"_Well, Kato? Are you going to come join me, or do I have to sit by this fire all by myself?" She said slyly. _

"_There's two mainlands? I didn't know…" He trailed off. Of course he didn't know. He'd always sat in the same spot, dreading his return to the mainland. Kato sat down by the fire. "How long has that bridge been there?" He asked._

"_Ever since my father built it. Somehow, that day you learned someone was out there that could take care of you – that there was a whole other world you were allowed to be a part of. You've just never allowed yourself to join it. It's waiting for you, Kato. Any time you're ready," Maggie said. _

_Kato looked at the bridge. He looked back at Maggie. He looked over to his two best friends in all the world, still sitting in the boat, smiling and waving at him. _

_Then he stood up. It was time._

_

* * *

_

Kato had been in the hospital four days when Britt finally almost left his side to get some real sleep. Lenore had insisted. Just as he was getting out of his chair, Kato made a noise. Britt jerked his head back around.

"Hey, Kato? Wake up, buddy. You've been sleeping for awhile," he said, trying to wake his friend. Lenore sat down on the other side, brushing his hair back from his face.

Kato, in turn, raised a hand and rubbed his eyes. This was the second time in recent months he'd woken up in a hospital to a worried Britt and Lenore.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" Lenore asked, softly. Kato trembled a little while Britt pressed the nurse call button.

"You know, don't you?" He said, barely able to hold back his tears.

"Yeah, we do," Britt said in reply.

"So you know what I am," Kato said. This was what he was afraid of. He was a freak. Someone only a man who wanted to hurt him could love.

So he was very surprised when he heard Britt say "You mean a victim of something beyond his control? Yeah. You are," He paused. "It doesn't make you a bad person or anything."

"You don't think I'm a freak?" Kato asked tentatively.

He was startled by the sudden chorus of "No!" "Of course not!" "It wasn't your fault!"

"But I was too weak to fight him off! I should have fought!" He cried. Tears started falling, unbidden. He hadn't cried since his parents died. He'd wanted to, but he'd never let himself cry.

Somewhere through the quiet sobs emitting from his throat he heard Britt softly ask Lenore to leave for a moment. Then he felt a hand on his arm. He hadn't had real human contact in very long time.

"Kato, can you look at me for a minute?" Kato did. "What if I told you there was a kid who was getting beat up at home. Would we go after the kid or whoever was beating him up?"

"The person beating him up," Kato replied, wiping away tears.

"Why not the kid? He's too weak to fight back, so isn't it his fault, too?" Britt asked.

"But he didn't do anything. It can't be his fault! The person beating him up is bigger than him!" Kato practically shouted.

"And somehow you're different than this mythical kid?" Kato stared at Britt. He'd never thought a millionaire playboy could think this way. He looked down. Tears kept falling. Then he felt arms wrap around him in a warm hug. When was the last time he was hugged? It had been at least twenty years. Kato looked up through the tears to the doorway.

Maggie was leaning in the doorframe with a knowing smile on her face.

* * *

"_Kato." Kato looked up from his hospital bed. His parents were standing on either side. _

"_Momma, Daddy? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead," Kato asked, bewildered._

"_We've missed you," His mother said as she sat down on the edge of the bed and gently brushed Kato's hair away from his face. _

"_I've missed you too. Mr. Ming-Hoa wasn't a good man," Kato said to her. _

"_I know," She replied. _

"_I'm proud of you, son," His father said, standing next to the bed. He placed a hand on Kato's shoulder. Kato put his hand on his father's. He never wanted them to leave. _

"_I love you," Kato whispered. He felt his mother kiss him on the cheek, and his father ruffle his hair. Then he looked up. "Are you leaving?" He asked. He wanted them to stay._

"_We have to," His mother replied._

"_We aren't supposed to be in this world anymore. But we're so very proud of the man you've become," His father finished. _

_And then they were gone. And somehow, Kato felt like a great weight had been lifted off of him._

_

* * *

_

Kato was sitting at breakfast in the Reid house a week after he'd been released from the hospital in Shanghai. In that time, he'd started seeing the therapist Maggie had recommended.

He was only just starting to be able to walk on his own again. The bruises on his legs had been so severe that it had hurt almost too much to stand. As they healed, he found he could put more and more weight onto his legs. He'd needed several shots before he could go back to the states as well, since the loss of a vital organ was a little detrimental to one's health.

Britt placed the plate of eggs and toast in front of him. "Eat up. Doctor's orders. No more skipping meals," Britt said.

"I didn't know you could cook," Kato teased.

"Eggs aren't that hard, dude. Mix 'em, put 'em in a pan, serve 'em up," Britt replied. Sounds floated in from the hallway.

"Hello, everyone! Look who's here with good news!" Lenore sing-songed as she strode gracefully into the kitchen. Maggie followed behind her.

"Guilty on all counts," Maggie said, holding a folded up piece of paper. "Just got the email from the Consulate this morning. Piao Ming-Hoa is never going to touch another child again. Also, Kato, INS is granting you a green card. You won't have to worry about renewing your visa anymore."

Kato smiled. He'd never felt safer in his life.

Maggie smiled, and began saying her goodbyes – something about having reports to file. Kato looked up. He had to do something. He stood up with a bit of difficulty, and then limped after her.

"Maggie! Can I ask you something?" He said down the hall.

"Sure. Anything you want."

"Do you want to go out sometime?"

"I'd love to. And I'm sure Daddy would approve," She replied.

Yup, everything really was going to be okay. Kato was sure of it.

"_On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.__  
__But wherefore says she not she is unjust,__  
__And wherefore say not I that I am old?__  
__O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,__  
__And age in love loves not to have years told.__  
__Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,__  
__And in our faults by lies we flattered be.__" – Shakespeare, Sonnet 138 lines 8-14_

_

* * *

_**So, reviews are, as always appreciated. Story's finished. And now I'm looking for your opinion: Should I write a sequel that follow's Kato's therapy? Or would you rather just leave it here and be done with it? **


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